Means for supporting articles or regular or irregular form.



l 1. E. STOREY. MEANS FOR SUPPORTING ARTICLES 0F REGULAR OR IRREGULAR FORM.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 24. IEIII` Patented Sept. 14, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHED I.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 24. 1914.

COLUMBIA PLANoaRAPH to.. WASHINGTON. u. c.

I. E. STOREY.

MEANS FOR SUPPORTING ARTICLES 0F REGULAR 0R IRREGULAR FORM.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 24. I9I4.

Patented Sept. 14, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEEI 3.

y.im il M OLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0.,wAsHxNnToN. D. t.

J. E. STOREY.

MEANS FOR SUPPORTING ARTICLES 0F REGULAR 0R IRREGULAR FORNI.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 24, 1914.

1,153,727. Patented sept. 14, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

uurrrn sanare rara FMCE..

JOHN E. STOREY, 0F LEI'CESTER, ENGEAND.

To allw/Lfom it mayfconcem Be it known that LJOHN EDwARDiSTonEY,

`asubject of the: King, of Gnreat` Britain,1 residing at Leicester, in'. the county of Leices ter-7 England, hayefinuented certain: new and useful Improuements ini Means for Support-.- ing Articles ol Regular or lrregularForm, of which: the following is; a specification.

invention relates to meansfor holding, securing-j or supporting single articlesof regular orV irregular form, for obtainingy a more or less equal distribution of-A pressure or load over them. rl-he apparatusmay also be used tor holding,j securing or supporting, with; one.` application oli pressure, several articles of equal-or unequal sizes, Orl-laying various: forms. j Y f Vlheobject. et the present ini-'entionY is to construct-such. apparatus a cheap, and ericient manner. Apparatus constructed, according.l tothisin-Vention does not` require the good Work and, necessary Vexpense inyolued in mounting beams in* pairsI on. other beams by means.v ot pivots,whichJ other beams; are again mounted in pairs andi so on until the desired flexibility and number of points of contact are` obtainedp or in. making bodies with cylindrical. or spherical. sliding` surfaces; mounted a similar Ina-nner tothe beamspreviously referred to, whichI have hitherto been. used in1 such form` of appa,- ratus. j g v The present invention. consists.` in the combination Withi a suitableI base or support, ot two. series of movable bodies arranged. normally in two. lines; one series being.v ini contact with the-base or support and the4 other series being in Vcontact with the first.. series,

or suitably supported thereby and. arranged farther from. the base. or support.. Those movable. bodies in contact with. thee base or support, .are `each capable of automatically and separately morir-gr longitudinally .with

respect to` the base or support. Those movable bodieswhich are arranged farther from the base7 or. support areY each capable of automatically and separately 4moving longitudinally with respect to the-base. orv support and. also. automatically and. separately in a direction at right angles tov the base. or suport. Vp According to the present invention I'preferably employ a series of links, forming what may be called a'chain, in Which each alternate rivet (except the c nd rivets)` is so connected to a straight or curved base.. or

Specicatio'n of Ietters Patent:

Patented'sept. 1d, 1915.

Application filed November 245.1914.. SeralNo;.875;V846.

support, that it may freely slide longitudinally thereon. 'like'v end rivets are piyoted to the base. or. sup-port. Asadjacent. sliding riuetsmovewith relation( to each other the pair of linksbetween suela rivets` will form d-igerent angles, and the apices Will consequently Vary in distance from the base, and some of' them will move-.longitudinally With respect. to the base.. Moulement of one pair of links produces movement in one or more adjacent pairs of.. links.

It will be understood thatone set of. alternate rivets on the adjacentpartsot the' links form one series ezt movable bodies, andthe other set of. alternate rivets, or the adjacent parts ot the links, form the other series. of movable bodies.,` l/llhen the apieesaof a chain so formed are brought into Contact. With an irregular shaped body, one apex will first come into contact with the body and Will be pressed toward the base; or support. The apex of one pair of links being depressed, causes other apices. torise untilV some or all of them, in turn, come into contact With other points of. the body to be` gripped or supported.. The links` are preferably formed with straight parallel sides; but, if desired, they may be of otherV shape.

Inl some cases the one set` of rivets are: not arranged concentric with. the.. projecting ends of the. links,l but. at a short distance from. such ends, thus increasing the degree ot flexibility and enabling each pair of links tohaye two gripping'or supporting/4, points..

In some cases the projecting. apicesof the links may be fitted? with pads which are pivoted thereto,.thus enabling the apparatus to.- accommodate itselt.V more readily to, various. shapedV articles In. lieuor. the pads the apices. of theI may be provided With rollers and in some cases. the rollers` may be fitted, not only tothe apices ofi the links, but to the bases of the links, and they may be of such a diameter that an apex roller is in contact with; twol of the base rollers, thus taking the strain olif the, links.Y

rlfhe base. or support carrying the chain may be moved toward the article or` articles to be. gripped or supported, in any convenientV or usual. manner. Itmay be pivoted at or toward one of its ends, to a fixed. point.

Vari-ous methods of carrying the invention into effect are. shown in the accompanyof Fig/1. Fig. B is a side 'elevation of'a modified construction. Fig. fl is a side elevation of part of a machine, showing separate articles of different sizes or shapes be-V vor tubes.v Fig. 7 shows a further modification of the invention applied to a vise, and

Fig. 8 is a section on the line S-S of Fig. 7. Fig.V 9 shows separately one of the'linksv used in the construction shown in Figs. 7

and S. Fig. 10 shows how the apparatus of the form shown in Fig. 3 may adjust itself to an irregular shaped article. Fig. 11 is a vertical section Vshowing another modifica-r tion.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, lthe base or support consists of two outer 'plates c, a, se-

` Acured to a block a', by screws c2. The plates c have internal grooves as. The chain consists of links connected together by pivots o', t2, b3. The pivots b connect the end links ofthe chain together, and they are riveted or otherwise fixed tothe block a, thus fixing the ends of the chain to the base or support. The pivots b2 may be simple rivets, as shown in Fig. Q, connecting the links b with freedom of motion at their apices; or they may be screws, two of which are shown at the left side of Fig. 1, screwing into the side links of the chain. lVhen the pivots Z22 are screws, they may be tightened to retain the links Z2 in the position they have assumed after gripping an article or articles. ,The pivots b3 are longer than the width of the chain, and their ends are located in the grooves a3 and freely slide therein to enable the apicesof the links to Vadjust themselves to an irregular surface. It will be noticed that the pivots b are arranged concentrically with respect to the outer ends of the links, as shown in Fig. 1, so that two links form a single apex. v

The construction shown in Fig. V3 is similar to'that shown in Figs. 1k andQ, except that the pivots b2 are arranged at a greaterV distance from the Vouter ends of the links lthan shown in Fig. 1, thus producing two points tol contact with the object, as shown in Figs. 3 and 10.

In the construction shown in Fig. tthe links, I), are provided with pads or blocks, o, which can freely rock on the pivots b2, thus enabling each pair of links to be instrumentalin gripping two articles, e, c, of equal or unequal dimensions, or two separate stacks of articles as shown. Pressure is applied to the base a by means of the screw a.

Fig. 5 shows a construction somewhat similar to that shown in Fig. 4, suitable for application to a bacon-slicingmachine. The base or support, A, is curved and is pivoted at one end toa ixedbar, CZ, andis' provided,

at the other end, with a pawl, A', engaging with the rack, el.

Fig. 6 shows two sets of gripping devices arranged lto grip an object, e', between them.

In this form of the apparatus the pivots b2 are provided with rollers, f, thus enabling The gripping device shown in Figs.^7 and `-8 is a modilication of that shown in Fig. 6.

In this construction the rollers f, Yf are of such diameters that they are actuallyin contact with each other, thus relieving the links b of all strain. The links b are not,

actually pivoted together but are flexibly connected together at their adjacent ends by means of the rollers. As shown in? Fig. 9, each link Z) has at one end a'portion, 62

at right angle to the mainV part b, which is equivalent to the pivots b2 inFigs. 1'to6,

and each linkV Zi, has, at its other end, two

parts b3 and Z939, which are equivalent to the pivots b3 in Figs. 1 to 6.v The parts 'are Y located within the groove c3, and the parts 53 enter the ends of the 'rollers f. The

parts Z220 enter the ends of the rollers The rollers f roll upon the surface aand an incline, alis provided at each end of the base or support ato support the end rollers f. AAccording to the positions of the rollers f, the links b-assume various angles, and the parts b3 slide along the groove a3 as in the constructions shown in Figs. `l to 6. Fig. 7

shows an article, e2, having one straight and l one curved side, gripped between two of the tools or devices.

In the construction shown in Fig. 11, the

base consists of a block a and .side plates a, Y connected by screws a2 as in the previous constructions. The block a has a flat surface a4 lupon which the pieces4 F slide lon-V gitudinallywith respectto Vthe base. BetweenY the pieces Fr are locatedother ypieces F, which are capable Vof slidingupon the inclined surfaces ofthe blocks F, and there fore moving longitudinally withrespecty to the base Vand at right angles thereto. The

pieces F are formed with holes F2'through Y side plates a. siderablermovement to the pieces F, but not sufficient to allow the` pieces F to escape. The sliding surfaces in this construction are liat and cantherefore be readily made at small cost. The block af has an incline al* to `enable them to slide in the desired directions.` f What I claimis:- I f Y Y Y r1. In apparatus 'for holding articles of which pass retaining wires F3 riveted in the These lwires F3 allow con- ,at each end to support the end pieces F and 1 unequal size or irregular form, the combination of a base, a series of movable bodies in contact With said base, means for retaining said movable bodies with respect to the base While allowing each of them to automatically and separately slide longitudinally thereon, a second set of movable bodies supported by the first set of movable bodies and arranged at a short distance from the base, means for connecting this second set of movable bodies to the base While allowing them to have automatic and separate motion longitudinally With respect to the base and also at right angles thereto, substantially as set forth.

2. In apparatus for holding articles of unequal size or irregular form, the combination of a base, a series of movable bodies consisting of alternate rivets of a chainand the adjacent parts of the links in contact With said base, means for retaining said movable bodies With respect to the base While allowing them to move longitudinally thereon, a second set of movable bodies consisting of the other alternate rivets of the chain and the adjacent parts of the links arranged at a short distance from the base, means for connecting this second set of movable bodies to the base While allowing them to have motion longitudinally With respect to the base and also at right angles thereto, substantially as set forth.

3. In apparatus for holding articles of unequal size or irregular form, the combination of a base having longitudinal grooves therein, a chain arranged in zigzag form, the end rivets of the chain being Xed to the base, other alternate rivets projecting beyond the sides of the chain and the ends of these last mentioned rivets being located in the said longitudinal grooves With capability of sliding therein, substantially as set forth.

4:. In apparatus for holding articles of unequal size or irregular form, the combination of a base consisting of a block and side plates each plate having a longitudinal groove therein, a chain having its links arranged in zigzag form, the end rivets of the chain passing through the base, alternate pivots of the chain projecting beyond the sides thereof, and the ends of these pivots being located Within the grooves in the side plates, substantially as set forth.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two Witnesses.

JOHN E. STOREY.

Witnesses:

LEONARD R. ASHTON, CHARLES A. DUNCAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

